MASTER 
NEGA  TIVE 

NO.  91-80249-15 


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AUTHOR: 


FRANK,  TENNEY 


TITLE: 


VERGIL'S 

APPRENTICESHIP 

PLACE: 

S.L 

DA  TE : 

[1 920] 


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Frank,  Tenney. 

Vergil's  apprenticeship|:h[microf orm] 
[1920]. 

23-38  p. 

ORIG 

08-21-91 


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MPNUFfiCTURED   TO  RUM  STONDORDS 
BY  RPPLIED  IMRGE,    INC. 


'lu 


ReprintetJ  for  private  circuktion  from 
Classical  Ph?!.** ii,H,K  Vol  XV,  No.,  1,  Jaouiin'  1920 


\Va 


It*  ^ 


■  4 
1*. 


•\!n"MIKXTICESHilV     I 


Vi\    rhNM-.Y  Frank 


lluTf'  a/"  p<H't/^  \vK)'  h:i\'a'  riif*-.-!!  !u  srvf^r  tliemselves  from  the 
acridrius  and  viri--ituurs  of  tljeir  rnvn  tune  in  order  to  interpret 
th<^  huiuafs  t^xiH.-r>i,a;-p-  -f  L.rijvpr^,ai  validity;  there  are  others  of 
eqiiaJ  pa'.vrr  ^^ ;  -  a -a-  ^i'sjh.H]-! vr  id  tiie  iniinediate  appeals  of 
thrir  f(*iiuw-:rH-'ri,  liave  preicrn'd  to  trive  voice  to  the  ideals  of  the 
Hii't^  n-j  vi,;.-t  H:^--  Ived.  T*^  ihv-  irroiip  \\T|i:il  !)elongcdj  for  though 
Jii-  >'0!^.-  v;-  •Vagi-.*  ;o  :h'-  d.--K  ai^i-  •  d'  eaflv  Italv  his  characters 
!u.  ..  o-o'-  '  '  .^  and  ?!:'•■o^  ila  diviriiap.'  of  tlie  Augustan  age.  To 
'  ■  '.  ■  ;  a  poet  adeq'vifoJi"  n  sound  knowledge  of  the 
}H-  ■  -  ■   ■  ■   is  essential,  and  adaa-f^  ali  an  intimate  acquaintance 

with  his  ax|)orienrc?,  reading,,  and  daily  associations.  Unfortunately 
we  have  now  !aa  aa:-'  :'A^\.-  aaaaarai-  la  Suetonius'  biographj^,  and 
indeed  \\a  au^ipuci  Uaa.  [hv  ^'?aai!ad.  dke  s(»  niiieh  of  that  gossipy 
narrator'=^  work,  wasted  toa  asaav  paires  on  trivial  detail.  Even 
the  j^hrads  thai  -arvive  an-  "■•  '  V  -- i  upon  conjectures  drawn 
from  tha  iiu.i(H.ic^^  which,  in.  .a  .  a.  ^aaa  slight  measure  autobio- 
grapha-a,  ;ao  nevertheless  *  ■  ••"  o.  o  d  with  poetic  symbolism 
a,i)ii  fajii  na=  ..uvention  to  ha  \A.  aanice  its  a,  matter-of-fact  source 
lanik. 

dla-rr  -x*:d-    hoa--aa>r,  a  group  of  poems  usually  printed  under 

the  fiaaa^  .d'  iVipa-a-  :.  aaau'  of  which  speak  with  unusual  candor 
of  imadaaf--  0:  tfaar  ajdiior'^^  lifr-^  and  critics  are  now  growing  ever 
iu(a-i.  ^aaitjdtaa  that  iiitfSt  of  tha-^a  are  aeiua,]ly  compositions  of 
Vorgira  >aa.Hd_  It  !-  ai\-  pur|)osa  m  the  following  pages  to  show 
that  moHt  of  tba  dou!)t  whitdi  sidl  persists  regarding  their  authen- 
ticity is  misplaced,  and  that  the  tnne  has  come  when  we  may 
eontidcaith"    auikcr   laa:   ui    iliem   lu   tracing  the  growth   of  Vergil's 

po\^*era, 

THU  "OULBX'' 

Everyon*'  will  rememf>er  the /a€aicral,{;r  Alfius  of  Horace's  epode 
who  was  all  but  per^uadtal  to  become  a  farmer.  I  think  it  has  not 
been  {lointed  i)ut  tliat  the  verses  wdiich  so  nearly  converted  him 

[Classical  PHiLOLOt*y  XV,  Jaouary,  1920J     2.3 


24 


Tennbt  Frank 


Vergil's  Apprenticeship 


25 


were  no  other  than  the  pastoral  scene  in  the  Culex,  or  let  us  say  at 
once  Vergil's  Cidex,  The  parallelism  in  imagery  and  ideas  between 
the  Culex  40-160  and  Horace,  Epode  2,  is  too  striking  to  be 
accounted  for  by  mere  similarity  of  subject-matter.  Since  composite 
scenes  provide  the  best  criteria  for  judging  interdependence  I  would 
first  call  attention  to  the  similarities  in  a  few  of  these.  The  first 
passage  is  Culex  148-58  (VoUmer's  edition) : 

His  suberat  gelidis  manans  eforUibus  unda 
quae  levibus  placidum  rivis  sonat  orsa  liquorem 

at  quaqua  geminas  avium  vox  obstrepit  auris 

Pastor  ut  ad  fontem  densa  requievit  in  umbra 
mitem  concepit  projectus  membra  soporem. 

In  the  second  epode,  26-28,  it  is  also  the  song  of  birds  and  the  sound 
,of  flowing  water  that  induce  sleep: 

Quenmtur  in  silvis  aves 

Fontesque*  lymphis  obstrepunt  manantibus 

Somnos  quod  invitet  leves. 

The  association  of  Priapus  and  Silvanus  in  Epode  21-22, 

Qua  muneretur  te,  Priape,  et  te  pater 
Silvane, 

echoes  CuZex  86-87: 

Uli  fake  deua  colitur  non  arte  politus 
ille  colit  luco8. 

Similarly  compare  Epode  11-12: 

in  redueta  wCe'mugientium 
/  prospectat  errantes  greges 

with  Culex  49: 

jam  vaUihus  abdunt 
corpora  jamque  omni  celeres  e  parte  vagarUes, 

Other  simpler  pictures  that  appear  in  both  poems  are  very 
numerous.  I  shall  append  a  few,  giving  those  of  Horace  first, 
since  they  are  doubtless  the  more  familiar:   • 

» Markland'a  emendation  to  frondea,  which  is  generaUy  accepted,  fleems  thus  to 
be  disproved  by  the  font^)U8  of  Culex  1.  40.  The  reference  to  the  CvUx  also  explains 
why  Horace's  farmer  happened  to  go  to  sleep  in  the  middle  of  the  poem.  Horace 
omitted  the  frggs  and  cicadae  of  CuUx  161-66  as  irrelevant  to  his  purpose,  but  Wi 
queruntur,  1.  26.  is  reminiscent  of  quendae,  CuUx  161.  On  the  meaning  of  these  word* 
■ee  AfMT,  Jour,  of  PkOoL,,  1913,  p.  322. 


qui  procul  negotiis,  solutus  omne  faenore  [E,  1]. 
otiaque  invidia  degentem  et  frauds  remota  [C  73]. 

neque  excitatur  classico  miles  truci 
neque  horret  iratum  mare  [E,  5-6]. 

^     nee  tristia  bella 
nee  funesta  timet  validae  certamina  classis  [C.  81-82]. 

vitium  propagine,  altas  maritat  populos  [E,  9]. 

(hederae)  ascendant  ad  summa  cacumina  (populi)  [C  143]. 

Libet  jacere  ....  in  tenaci  gramine  [E.  24]. 
Saepe  super  tenero  prostemit  gramine  corpus  [C.  69]. 

Curas  ....  haec  inter  obliviscitur  [E,  38]. 

incognita  curis 
quae  lacerant  ....  mentes  [C  61]. 

laetum  pecus,  distenta  siccet  ubera  [E.  46]. 
illi  sunt  gratae  rorantes  lacte  capellae  [C  76]. 

Indeed  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Horace  in  his  epode  not 
only  expressed  his  amusement  at  the  business  man's  backsliding 
but  also  intended  to  compliment  Vergil  on  the  persuasive  powers 
of  his  verse.  The  very  position  of  the  epode  in  the  second  place 
after  the  introductory  tribute  to  Maecenas  reveals  the  poet's  pur- 
pose in  honoring  his  friend.*  We  might  also  suggest  that  this 
epode  was  one  of  Horace's  earliest,  since  he  would  probably  have 
chosen  one  of  the  eclogues  for  comment  had  these  been  published. 
It  should  therefore  be  dated  soon  after  Horace's  return  from  the 
disaster  at  Philippi  and  be  considered  the  first  record  we  have  of 
the  acquaintance  between  the  two  poets.  But  our  main  business 
now  is  with  the  CuleXy  and  the  first  point  of  interest  established 
by  the  comparison  is  that  the  Culex  existed  and  was  being  read  at 
least  before  the  epodes  were  published. 

I  shall  disregard  what  was  till  recently  the  orthodox  view, 
held  and  supported  by  Leo  and  Buecheler,'  that  the  Cvlex  was  a 
post-Vergilian  forgery  or  suppositious  work.  Skutsch  was  at  least 
willing  to  admit  that  the  internal  evidence,  which  he  carefully 
reviewed,  favored  the  epoch  of  Vergil's  youth,  whoever  the  author 

1  In  the  collection  of  Odes  Vergil  again  comes  in  for  early  attention,  his  pro- 
pemptieon  being  placed  immediately  after  the  poems  honoring  Maecenas  and 
Augustus. 

*  Leo's  edition,  also  Hermee,  1902,  p.  73;  Buecheler,  Rhein.  Mu8.»  XLV,  324. 


26 


Tbnney  Frank 


might  be/  and  Vollmer,  on  the  basis  of  the  testimony  of  Roman 
authors  and  of  the  text  tradition,  accepted  the  poem  as  Vergil's, 
though  he  erroneously  held  it  to  be  a  parody.*  I  shall  here  attempt 
to  date  its  composition  and  to  explain  its  purpose  in  the  hope  that 
the  long  discussion  is  now  near  its  goal. 

First,  assuming  that  the  poem  is,  as  Lucan,  Statius,  Martial, 
and  Suetonius  believed,  a  poem  by  Vergil  addressed  to  Octavius, 
let  us  attempt  to  find  its  date.  The  Vita  of  Donatus  says  of  Vergil: 
"item  fecit  Cirim,  et  Culicem  cum  esset  annorum  XVI."  This  date, 
54  B.C.,  cannot  be  correct,  for  Octavius  was  then  too  young  (nine 
years)  and  too  insignificant  to  be  addressed  at  all,  while  Vergil 
had  not  reached  Rome  and  could  hardly  know  of  the  child's  exist- 
ence. Vollmer  proposes  to  read  XXVI  instead  of  XVI,  his  reasons 
being  that  Octavius  at  the  age  of  nineteen  would  be  a  more  suitable 
subject  of  honor,  and  that  Statius  (as  he  believes)  supports  that 
date.  In  Silvae  ii.  7.  73  Statius  in  honoring  Lucan  says:  "haec 
(Pharsalia)  primo  juvenis  canes  sub  aevo,  ante  annos  Culicis  Maron- 
iani";  and  Lucan  seems  to  have  busied  himself  with  the  Pharsalia 
between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  twenty-six.  Volhner's  suggestion 
is  open  to  several  objections:  Statius  says  only  that  Lucan  was 
engaged  in  composing  at  an  earlier  age  than  Vergil,  not  that  he  had 
fully  completed  his  work;  both  Statius  and  Lucan  considered  the 
Cvlex  as  Vergil's  first  work,  whereas  we  now  date  several  poems 
earlier  than  44  B.C.;  the  word  puer  in  the  dedication  of  the  Cvlex 
is  not  a  natural  designation  for  a  youth  of  nineteen  years  ,*•  Vergil 
should  have  revealed  better  powers  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  than 
appear  in  the  Ct^Zex,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Cvlex  was  composed 
for  a  schoolboy,  not  for  a  young  man  already  in  the  army. 

I  should  therefore  propose  a  simpler  emendation  than  Vollmer's 
and  emend  XVI  to  XXI,  not  to  XXVI,  dating  the  Ctdex  in  the  year 
48  B.C.  This  would  make  the  poet  twenty-one  years  of  age  and 
Octavius  fourteen  to  fifteen,  which  fits  the  requirements  of  the 

1  Au9  Verges  FrUhzext,  1901,  p.  126. 

•Vollmer,  SiU.  Bayer,  Akad.,  1907,  p.  363.  Warde  Fowler,  Cla-.  Ret.,  1914, 
p,  117,  aooepts  the  poem  as  Vergil's,  dating  it  in  48  B.C. 

»  Cicero  PhQ.  4.  3  is  hardly  a  parallel,  since  the  orator  is  urged  by  very  strong 
motives  to  emphasise  Octavius*  youth.  According  to  Nioolaus  Damasoenus,  Octavius 
resented  these  references  to  his  age  in  44. 


Vergil's  Apprenticeship 


27 


dedication  quite  appositely.  Octavius  was  a  boy  of  very  ordinary 
hopes  before  60,  when  Caesar  seemed  to  be  on  the  verge  of  a  defeat 
at  the  hands  of  the  Senate,  but  after  Caesar's  amazing  victories 
of  49  and  48,  which  made  him  the  unquestioned  master  of  the 
Roman  world,  his  nearest  male  heir  became  a  marked  person.  Soon 
after  Pharsalia,  Caesar  centered  attention  on  the  lad  by  directing 
that  he  assume  the  toga  virilis  and  particularly  by  asking  the  people 
to  elect  him  a  pontifex  at  an  age  unthought  of  before.  And  this  is 
the  period  to  which  we  should  assign  the  poem.  The  words  of  the 
dedication  which  have  seemed  so  inexplicable  to  critics,  Odavi  ven- 
erande^  and  sande  puer,  can  only  be  explained  on  the  supposition 
that  the  priesthood  had  just  been  conferred  upon  him.  It  is  a 
direct  reference  to  the  unusual  and  sacred  office  bestowed  in  October, 
48,  and  it  was  doubtless  written  while  this  honor  was  still  fresh  in 
mind  and  before  the  more  remarkable  civil  honors  were  bestowed 
upon  him  in  the  following  years.  In  this  respect  the  language  of 
the  dedication  reminds  us  of  the  solemn  ton^  of  Tibullus'  address 
to  Messalinus  when  the  latter  had  received  the  honors  of  a  minor 
priesthood  (ii.  6).  We  can  hardly  refuse  to  accept  a  date  which  so 
thoroughly  accords  with  all  the  requirements  of  the  known  facts.* 

We  must  now  try  to  comprehend  the  purpose  of  the  poem, 
for  if  it  is  to  be  taken  seriously  as  an  epyllion  on  a  peculiarly  unfor- 
tunate gnat  we  can  only  wonder  with  the  orthodox  critics  how  a 
man  of  Vergil's  good  taste  could  ever  have  been  so  young  as  to  have 
perpetrated  it.  Vollmer,  who  is  driven  by  the  evidence  of  the 
text  tradition  to  acknowledge  Vergil  as  the  author,  takes  refuge  in 
the  supposition  that  it  is  a  parody,  though  the  humor  is  ''so  delicate 
as  to  be  difficult  to  find."'  He  claims  that  the  words  of  Statius' 
preface  indicate  this  by  mentioning  the  Culex  in  the  same  breath 


1  Should  not  1.  25  read:   "Octavi  venerande  meis  adltidere  coeptis"  7    Cf.  11.  26 
and  36. 

*  Strictly  speaking,  Vergil  was  already  in  his  twenty-second  year  by  three  days  <. 
before  Octavius  assumed  the  tooa  virilxa  on  October  18  of  48,  but  the  Romans  counted 
the  years  by  consulships,  and  later  historians  would  reckon  events  of  Caesare  II 
Servtlio  conttUibtu  in  Vergil's  twenty-first  year,  since  his  birthday  fell  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  3rear.  For  the  evidence  regarding  Octavius'  youth  see  Gardthausen, 
AuoustuB.  Livy  Per.  119  says:  "(Octavius)  cum  annos  rwvemdecim  haberet,  consul 
oreatus  est."     This  was  on  August  19,  43. 

*  Vollmer,  op.  eU.,  p.  353. 


I 


pi 


28 


Tenney  Frank 


Vergil's  Apprenticeship 


s. 


29 


as  the  Batrachomachia,  The  passage  reads:  "Sed  et  CuUcem  legi-  . 
mus  et  Batrachomachiam  etiam  agnoscimus  nee  quisquam  est 
illustrium  poetamm  qui  non  aliquid  operibus  suis  stilo  remissiore 
praeluserit."  But  Volhner  seems  to  miss  the  point.  Statius  merely 
asks  pardon  for  writing  the  Silvae  stilo  remissiore  even  as  great 
poets  wrote  trifles  in  their  youth.  He  is  not  implying  that  the 
Cidex  or  the  Silvae  are  of  a  certain  genre.  When  Vergil  wrote  a 
parody,  as  he  did  in  the  tenth  CataUpton,  the  point  is  apparent  in 
every  line  even  without  a  reference  to  the  thing  parodied.  The 
Culez  is  obviously  not  that  kind  of  a  composition. 

Had  Vergil  meant  to  parody  heroic  style  he  would  not  have 
employed  the  subdued  language  which  he  himself  characterizes  as 

the  "plain  style"  (1.35): 

mollia  sed  tenui  pede  currere  carmina.* 

The  poem  does  not  exaggerate  the  chief  characteristics  of  the 
epyllia.  It  has  no  more  digressions  than  the  Peleus  and  Thetis  of 
Catullus,  its  allusions  are  no  more  obscure,  it  is  less  sentimental, 
and  it  has  fewer  of  the  marked  neoteric  cadences.  Again,  Vergil 
would  not  have  expressed  his  wishes  for  Octavius'  future  by  hoping 
that  he  po  (et  tibiy  39-40)  might  enjoy  the  blessed  abodes  mentioned 
in  the  poem  and  the  safety  secured  by  the  shepherd,  if  the  shepherd 
and  the  Elysium  were  a  joke.  Nor  would  Horace  have  taken  the 
pasteral  scene  out  of  this  poem  for  serious  purposes  if  it  had  been 
intended  as  a  parody.  The  subject  alone  is  beneath  the  dignity  of 
a  serious  poem,  and  that  can  be  explained  by  a  more  plausible 

hypothesis. 

The  author  has  himself  said  something  about  his  purpose  in  the 
first  few  lines,  but  the  text  is  unfortunately  so  corrupt  that  we 
cannot  be  sure  what  they  mean.  Leo,  who  always  attempts  to 
retain  the  manuscript  reading,  is  forced  to  emend  here,  and  he 
only  succeeds  in  making  the  author  say  that  his  song  is  due  to  the 
gnats  which  kept  him  awake  at  night!  That  is  obviously  not  a 
clue   to   follow.    The   lines   in    question   as   given   in    the    best 

manuscripts  are  (3-5) : 

lusimus  haec  propter  culicis  sint  carmina  docta 
omnis  et  historiae  per  ludum  consonet  ordo 
notitiaeque  ducum  voces  licet  invidus  adsit. 

1  See  JackBon,  Harvard  Studies,  XXV,  117.  for  the  meaning  of  these  terms. 


I  think  that  we  must  with  Ellis  emend  the  last  line  to  read  noiitiae 
dodumque  voces  to  get  any  possible  meaning  into  the  passage. 
Ducum  voces  might  possibly  be  conceived  to  mean  "the  diction  of 
heroic  verse,"  but,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  author  presently 
claims  to  be  writing  in  the  "plain  style,"  not  in  the  epic  Q.  35). 
With  another  slight  change  of  e<  to  i/i,  also  adopted  by  Ellis,  a  read- 
able and  consistent  text  is  secured: 

Lusimus:  haec  propter  culicis  sint  carmina  docta 
omnis  ut  historiae  per  ludmn  consonet  ordo 
notitiae,  doctumque  voces  licet  invidus  adsit. 

"These  are  but  trifles;  yet  my  verses  on  the  culex  shall  be  filled 
with  learning  so  that  [haec  propter  ,  ,  .  .  ut]  knowledge  in  all  its 
range  [omnis  ordo  notitiae]  may  ring  through  the  playful  form  of  a 
story  [per  ludum  historiae],  and  you  may  call  it  learned  whatever 
the  critic  may  say."  K  this  is  the  meaning  Vergil  claims  only  to 
have  sugar-coated  the  pill  of  learning,  to  have  strung  a  series  of 
"useful  facts"  on  a  story  which  he  considers  attractive  to  the  school- 
boy. Fortunately  there  is  a  striking  confirmation  in  Martial  that 
the  poem  was  so  understood,  and  Martial  gives  the  only  judgment 
of  ancient  times  regarding  the  nature  of  the  poem.  In  Book  xiv, 
the  Apophoretay  No.  185,  he  writes  this  couplet  as  suitable  to  be 
inscribed  in  a  copy  of  Vergil's  Culex  when  given  as  a  present: 

Accipe  facundi  Culicem,  studiosBj  Maronis 
Ne  nucib7i8  positis  Arma  Viriunque  legas. 

Evidently  he  considers  it  a  book  suitable  for  a  schoolboy  and  one 
at  that  which  could  be  read  at  recess  time.  This  explains  at  once 
the  strange  combination  of  a  child's  fable  with  solid  blocks  of  erudi- 
tion. The  slight  story  tells  of  a  shepherd  who  was  wakened  from 
his  noonday  siesta  by  the  sting  of  a  philanthropic  gnat  just  in  time 
to  escap.  death  from  a  monstrous  serpent.  The  shepherd  acting  on 
the  first  impulse  crushed  the  gnat  and  was  in  time  duly  rebuked 
for  his  innocent  ingratitude.  The  simplicity  of  the  tale,  the  moral- 
izing tone,  and  the  personalizing  and  exaggeration  in  animal  physi- 
ology and  psychology  reveal  of  course  that  Vergil  drew  it  from  the 
usual  stock  of  fable-lore.  He  may  himself  have  added  the  return 
of  the  gnat's  ghost  from  Hades  in  order  to  make  occasion  for  his 
census  of  the  lower  world.    The  omnis  ordo  notitiae  occupies  of 


ill 


30 


Tenney  Frank 


course  the  major  portion  of  the  poem.     Not  to  mention  the  abstruse 
allusions  of  the  introductory  portions,  it  contains  the  descriptive 
eulogy  of  pastoral  life  (5S-97),  then  a  catalogue  of  the  plants  that 
grew  about  the  shepherd's  resting-place,  with  an  appropriate  refer- 
ence to  the  metamorphosis  myth,  or  the  proper  use  of  each  (the 
plane  tree,  lotus,  poplar,  almond,  oak,  pine,  ilex,  Cyprus,  beech, 
ivy,  and  myrtle).     This  list  reminds  us  of  Alexandrian  botanical 
books  as  well  as  of  the  mythographs  that  schoolmasters  used  in 
explaining  allusions  in  Greek  poetry.     The  description  of  the  serpent 
that  follows  (163-82)  may  come  from  an  early  bestiary  such  as  the 
romancing  Alexandrians  made  up  when  the  Ptolemies  began  to 
gather  Eastern  animals  into  their  museums.     In  making  a  boy's 
story  interesting  there  was  no  reason  why  the  author  should  have 
searched  for  a  civilized   domestic  variety,  and  this  explains  the 
lurid  dress  and  the  musical  qualities  of  the  animal.     Of  real  parody 
there  is  nothing.    Then  follows  the  pidce  de  risistance  of  mjrtho- 
logic  lore,  a  full  catalogue  of  famous  personages  that  were  supposed 
to  inhabit  the  two  several  compartments  of  the  lower  world  (216- 
375),  a  kind  of  prompter  to  poetic  allusions  in  the  field  that  occupied 
very  much  of  the  time  of  every  grammaiicus  in  the  elucidation  of 
school  texts.    Since  the  characters  of  ancient  tragedy  and  epic 
verse  had  all  passed  to  the  lower  regions,  this  device  made  it  possible 
to  mention  a  great  number  en  masse.    There  is  no  need  to  report 
the  wearisome  list,  but  it  is  evident  that  the  tale  of  Orpheus  and 
Eurydice  is  told  at  some  length,  apparently  on  the  theory  of  Lucre- 
tius that  the  doctor  should  sweeten  the  cup  of  paregoric  for  children 
with  a  touch  of  honey  on  the  rim.     In  order  to  include  references 
to  Homeric  deeds,  otherwise  diflficult  to  incorporate  in  a  catalogue 
of  personages,  the  author  also  allows  himself  digressions  into  narra- 
tives when  he  reaches  the  names  of  Achilles,  Ulysses,  and  Agamem- 
non.    Finally  the  more  famous  personages  of  Roman  history  are 
mentioned  for  readers  of  Ennius.^    When  now  the  shepherd  has 
recovered  from  his  scientific  nightmare  he  duly  entombs  the  culex 
and  plants  over  the  grave  an  instructive  list  of  flowers  and  shrubs: 
acanthus,  roses,  violets,  myrtle,  hyacinth,  crocus,  laurel,  oleander, 

» Is  1.  368  a  reference  to  some  family  tradition  of  Cicero's  friend  Flaminiua  Flam- 
ma  t    See  Ad  AU.  xiv.  16.  4. 


Vergil's  Apprenticeship  31 

niies,  rosemary,  savin,  marigold,  ivy,  bacchus,  amaranth,  bumastus 
picns,  and  narcissus,  a  list  sufficient  to  teach  the  boy  more  than 
the  lesson  of  gratitude. 

•  Vergil  seems  therefore  to  have  combined  in  the  CuUx  a  number 
of  elements  that  were  to  be  found  in  Alexandrian  "catalogue" 
works,  a  genre  that  attracted  readers  not  only  because  of  the  associa- 
tional  appeal  but  also  because  such  books  served  as  prompters^  to 
memory,  especially  in  Alexandria  and  Rome,  where  the  exotic 
Greek  lore  was  not  naturaUy  acquired  from  childhood.  Then  to 
suit  the  immediate  taste  of  the  pupils  who  must  acquire  such  lore 
from  the  painful  exegesis  of  the  schoolmaster  Vergil  chose  a^  a  bind- 
ing thread  a  simple  story  of  the  type  that  Rx)mans  thought  suitable 
for  the  very  young.* 

Since  then  we  have  found  that  the  dedication  of  the  Cvlex  and 
the  testimony  of  Donatus  favor  the  year  48,  that  Horace  uses  the 
poem  m  an  early  epode  and  implies  Vergilian  authorship  by  the  posi- 
tion he  gives  it,  and  that  the  contents  are  best  explained  on  the 
same  assumption,  we  have  no  longer  any  reason  for  questioning  the 
very  strong  testimony  of  the  text  tradition  and  of  the  inteUigent 
Romans  who  referred  to  the  poem.* 

FinaUy  Horace's  use  of  the  poem  gives  us  proof  that  the  Cwfex 
was  actually  issued  as  a  separate  meUus,  at  least  to  a  smaU  circle; 

« Textbooks  written  for  and  dedicated  to  boys  and  youne  men  at  sohnnl  -««. 
numerous  at  Rome;  cf.  especiaUy  Norden,  HemJ.  1905.  pp  4I1  ff  ^      "" 

Bern  K^rls*"  "^onl^^a".  """*"  "^  ""''  *''''"""''  »*  «<""»'•  "  *''«  -"oh-abused 
:..  Jlj.f ^f  ■  ^''°"«''  Octavius  was  seven  years  younger  than  VergU  he  mav  have 
attend«l  U,e  lectures  of  Epidius  in  the  year  60.  when  he  deUvered  i^ZZl^Z 
^rwl  ■  .  *r°^'"°*''»-  VergU  coming  from  the  provinces  probably^tim.^ 
h«  rhetorical  studies  at  Rome  even  beyond  the  year  50.  and  he  appar^ntTy  C  a 

~rdy'pZrhTJ:hi:r  ^"^ "--"- "  -  ^^^^'  ^- "« ^'^  -  ;^b.: 

sixth  S.^7  """*"  "'^"  *"""'''  ""^"^  *°  *"  ^"^^  *"  *•">  fi"t  two  line,  of  the 

*' Prima  Syracusio  dignata  est  ludere  versu 
Nostra  neque  erubuit  silvas  habitare  Thalia^ 
Thalia,  the  muse  of  country  life,  was  the  muse  he  invoked  in  the  Culex: 

"Lusimus,  Octavi.  gracili  modulante  Thalia  " 
and.  Wi^e^Horace.  Vergil  probably  considered  the  pastoral  scene  lu,  the  most  successful 

Lristr^c^m  ^1^'  T^r^^  "^^.^^  ^^^^  ^^*^  ^>  ••  " ^^^--^  mterdumTde^ 
noDis  et  gracilem  moUi  liceat  pede  claudere  versum." 


32 


Tenney  Frank 


and  this  explains  why  Vergil  treated  it  in  his  later  works  with  more 
consideration  than  he  did  the  Ciris,  which  was  apparently  sup- 
pressed. He  does  indeed  employ  ideas  and  pictures  from  it;^  he 
fortunately  elaborated  the  pastoral  scene  and  the  Orpheus  tale  in 
the  Georgicsy  and  did  not  hesitate  to  recur  again  to  the  subject  of 
the  lower  world,  but  he  quite  studiously  avoids  using  any  complete 
line  from  it,  and  the  sixth  Aeneid  rather  avoids  than  invites  a  com- 
parison. The  book,  unworthy  though  he  considered  it  later,  was 
apparently  accessible  to  the  public  and  beyond  recall. 

VERGIL  AND  HORACE 

We  have  seen  that  Horace's  second  epode  is  in  no  small  measure 
a  favorable  comment  upon  the  pastoral  scene  in  the  Culex,  This 
fact  of  course  necessitates  an  examination  of  the  time-honored 
theory  that  the  epode  borrowed  its  imagery  from  the  rural  scene  of 
Georgics  ii.  458-542:  0  foHunatos  nimium.  We  shall  find  that  the 
lines  in  the  Georgics  are  later  than  the  epode  and  are  in  fact  VergiFs 
return  of  the  compliment  which  Horace  had  so  graciously  paid  his 
early  effort.  The  magnificent  hymn  is  of  course  much  more;  it  is 
a  striking  statement  of  Vergil's  ideals  and  aspirations,  employing 
for  the  purpose  the  central  idea  of  the  pastoral  lines  of  the  CuUx 
but  with  unmeasured  increase  of  power;  it  also  contains  his  gener- 
ous tribute  to  the  poet  who  above  all  others  inspired  him  throughout 
life.  But  for  these  very  reasons  it  was  fitting  that  here  he  should 
leave  a  delicate  token  of  his  gratitude  to  Horace,  who  had  been 
quick  to  recognize  his  early  effort. 

I  need  not  dwell  long  upon  the  similarities,  since  most  of  the 
erudite  editions  (cf.  Kiessling's),  though  mistaken  regarding  the  order 
of  precedence,  give  all  the  certain  parallels.  A  few  of  the  more  com- 
plex ones  may  be  mentioned;  thus  Horace's  opening  lines  suggest 
Vergil's  closing  ones: 

Ut  prisca  gens  mortalium  ....  neque  excitatur  classico  [H.  2-6]. 
Aureus  hanc  vitam  in  terris  Saturnus  agebat 
Necdum  etiam  audierant  inflari  classica  [G.  ii.  538-39). 

I  doubt  whether  Vergil  would  have  thus  closed  in  the  minor  key 
after  the  major  notes  of  the  preceding  line  if  he  had  not  intended 
to  refer  to  Horace's  opening. 

1  See  Jackson,  Claaa,  QuAt  „    1911,  p.  163. 


Vergil's  Apprenticeship 


33 


Almost  all  the  details  of  the  homely  scene  in  Horace  3^7 

pudica     mulier  ....  dulcis     liberos laetum     pecus  .  '. 

distenta  ubera  ....  vina  promens, 

recur  in  chiastic  succession  in  Vergil  524-29: 

dulcesnati  .       .   .  casta  pudicitiam  domus  .   .'  .   .  ubera  lactea 

luctantur  ha^di  ....  cratera  coronant.  ^  •   .   .   . 

That  Vergil  is  here  the  successor  is  especially  evident  in  Knes  516-21 
Horace,  who  was  writing  a  concise  poem  that  must  disclose  its  plan 
orgamzed   his   impressions   in   succession    under   summer    (9-16)' 
autumn  (17-28),  and  winter  (29-34).    Vergil,  who  at  the  end  of 
his  long  hymn  was  bent  only  on  selecting  some  recognizable  images 
from  his  friend's  poem,  disregarded  this  logical  order  in  lines  516-21 
80  that  autumn  scenes  from  Horace  are  used  both  before  and  after 
the  wmter  scene.     Again  an  illuminating  comparison  may  be  made 
between  Horace  7-8, 

Forumque  vitat  et  superba  civium 
potentiorum  liminay 
and  Vergil  502-5, 

(nee)  insanumque /orwm  aut  populi  tabularia  vidit; 

sollicitant  alii  remis  freta  caeca,  ruuntque 

in  femim,  penetrant  aulas  et  limina  regum. 
Here  the  clear  consistency  of  Horace,  which  proves  it  the  original 
gives  way  m  Vergil  to  a  rather  labored  effort  at  making  a  place  for 
the  second  idea  {Umimi  regum).  Indeed,  Vergil's  line  was  frequently 
misunderstood  until  a  reference  to  Horace  explained  its  meaning. 
We  may  then  accept  the  order  Cukx-Epode  2-Georgics  ii  and 
recogmze  Vergil's  effort  at  pubUcly  acknowledging  Horace's  tribute 
to  the  Ctdex. 

A  confirmation  of  our  early  dating  of  the  epode  may  perhaps 
be  found  in  Vergil  Eclogue  ii.  66, 

Aspics,  aratra  jugo  referunt  suspensa  juvenci, 
which  seems  to  be  an  even  earlier  reference  to  the  epode;  compare 

videre  fessos  vomerem  inversum  boves 
collo  trahentis  languido  [H.  63-64]. 
Since  this  is  one  of  the  earlier  eclogues  its  evidence  so  far  as  it  goes 
favors  a  date  prior  to  40  b.c.  for  the  epode.    That  as  we  know  was 
»aq  year  m  which  VergO  wrote  his  fourth  Eclogue  in  answer  to 
Horace's  dirge  over  the  lost  republic,  Epode  16. 


34 


Tenney  Frank 


Vergil's  eulogy  of  messalla,  "catalepton"  ix 

The  ninth  CaMepton  is  a  prosaic  if  enthusiastic  tribute  to  Mes- 
salla, which  few  critics  have  dared  assign  to  Vergil.  Even  Birt,* 
who  believes  that  Varius  and  Tucca  accepted  all  of  the  Caialepton 
as  Vergilian,  rejects  the  ninth,  preferring  to  beheve  that  VergiFs 
own  best  friends  were  imposed  upon  in  this  one  instance.  VoUmer* 
stands  almost  alone  in  its  defense.  He  is  of  course  compelled  to 
this  opinion  by  his  faith  in  the  text  tradition,  and  it  appears  that 
his  faith  will  again  be  justified.  However,  by  assigning  the  poem 
to  the  year  27,  Vergil's  forty-third  year,  he  has  so  weakened  his 
case  that  skepticism  continues  unabated.  Is  it  possible  that  Vergil 
could  write  in  a  manner  so  stilted  and  futile  at  a  time  when  he  was 
composing  the  second  book  of  the  Aeneidf  If  the  poem  was 
addressed  to  Messalla  on  the  occasion  of  the  Aquitanian  triumph, 
why  has  it  no  specific  reference  to  Messalla's  many  victories  in  half 
a  dozen  notable  campaigns  ?  If  written  to  the  distinguished  general 
and  statesman,  why  is  half  of  the  eulogy  devoted  to  the  praise  of 
trivial  Greek  verse-studies,  which  Tibullus  in  all  his  panegyrics 
does  not  even  mention?  These  objections  are  so  serious  that  we 
must  either  find  another  date  for  the  poem  or  call  it  spurious. 

It  is  my  belief  that  Vergil  wrote  this  poem  in  the  autumn  of 
42  B.C.,  when  he  had  just  heard  of  the  first  battle  of  Philippi,  a 
battle  which  Messalla  recorded  in  his  memoirs'  as  a  victory  because 
he  succeeded  in  capturing  Octavius'  camp.  It  was  of  course  three 
weeks  before  the  decisive  second  battle  which  proved  so  disastrous 
to  the  republican  cause. 

A  brief  review  of  Messalla's  early  career  will  aid  in  justifying 
this  date.  Cicero*  happens  to  mention  that  Messalla  went  to 
Athens  to  study  in  the  year  45.  He  was  then  about  nineteen  years 
of  age.  Soon  after  Caesar's  murder  he  returned  to  Italy,  visiting 
Cicero  and  bringing  him  greetings  from  his  son,  who  was  still  at 

>  Jugendverae  und  Heimatpoesie  VergiU,  p.  89. 

*  Stiz.  Bayer.  Akad.,  1907,  p.  346.  In  a  note  he  pronounces  the  style  not  un- 
Vergilian.  Ellis  was  also  inclined  to  accept  the  poem;  Professor  BirVs  Ed.  of  The 
CaUil.,  Oxford,  1910;  also  Jahn,  Burs.  Jahresb.,  1910,  p.  61. 

»  Plut.  BnU.  40-47. 

*  Ad.  AU.  xii.  32;  cf.  Prosop.  Imp.  Rom.  iii.  363.  Vergil  may  have  met  Messalla 
in  the  lecture-rooms  at  Naples,  since  the  Ciris  implies  some  years  of  common  interest 
in  philosophy. 


Vergil's  Apprenticeship  35 

Athens  (AdAtt.  xv.  17.  2).    A  year  later,  when  Rome  heard  of  the 
debacle  at  Mutina  and  began  to  fear  that  Octavius  and  Antony 
would  unite  against  the  Senate,  Messalla  set  out  to  join  Brutus  and 
Cassius.    On  this  occasion  Cicero  gave  him  an  important  letter 
to  car^  to  Brutus,'  in  which  Cicero  took  the  opportunity  to  bestow 
upon  the  bearer  exceedingly  high  praise  for  his  learning  and  orator- 
ical abJity,  as  well  as  for  his  probity,  patriotism,  and  good  sense. 
Durmg  the  next  year  he  served  with  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  the  East 
probably  accompanying  Brutus  through  Thrace  to  Asia,  then  join- 
mg   Cassius,    who   conquered   Cilicia   and   Cappadocia,    captured 
Rhodes  in  a  naval  battle,  and  marched  over  Asia  Minor  on  the  wav 
back  to  Macedonia.    At  the  first  battle  of  Philippi  Cassius  gave 
Messalla  his  best  troops,  and  Augustus  later  acknowledged  that  he 
had  been  his  strongest  foe  in  that  engagement  (Plut.  BnU.  53) 
After  the  defeat,  some  three  weeks  later,  Messalla,  though  but 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  was  chosen  commander.     He  advised 
capitulation,  and  his  advice  was  taken.    He  then  went  with  Antony 
to  Egypt  but  returned  to  Rome  later  and  was  engaged  by  Augustus 
in  his  wars  m  Sicily  (36),  Pannonia  (35),  among  the  Salassi  (34?), 

!l^r°'u"'  *^^  ^^'  ""^  ^^  consulship  (31),  and  in  Aquitania 
{.^»-S7),  whence  he  returned  in  triumph  in  27. 

Let  us  now  see  how  the  lines  of  the  poem  fit  the  setting  of  the 
year  42:  * 

Line  3: 

Victor  adest,  magni  magnum  decus  ecce  triumphi 
victor  qua  terrae  quaque  patent  maria.  ' 

After  the  first  battle  of  Philippi,  Messalla  rightly  called  himself 
victonous  because  of  his  sucessful  attack  upon  Octavius'  camp- 
he  had  also  associated  for  a  year  with  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  the 
conquest  of  the  East,  the  seas  as  well  as  the  provinces.  He  could 
therefore  be  appropriately  caUed  the  magnum  decus  of  Brutus' 
expected  triumph. 
Line  5: 

Barbaricae  portans  insignia  pugnae. 
Since  Brutus  and  Cassius  had  engaged  numerous  Thracian  and 
Asiatic  tnbes  the  poet  obviously  preferred  to  dwell  upon  these 
facts  rather  than  upon  the  struggle  of  civil  arms  at  Philippi. 

>  We  etm  have  thia  letter;  it  ia  Ad.  BnU.  i.  16. 


36 


Tenney  Frank 


Lines  7-40:  This  passage,  comprising  half  of  the  poem,  is 
devoted  to  praise  of  Messalla's  Greek  bucolics.  Since  Tibullus, 
who  frequently  lauds  Messalla  between  the  years  30  and  20  B.C., 
never  mentions  these  poems,  they  were  probably  exercises  of  the 
Athenian  days  which  the  author  was  glad  to  forget  in  the  time  of 
his  greatness.  If,  however,  the  eulogy  was  written  in  42,  these 
lines  give  us  an  important  landmark  in  Vergilian  biography.  In 
line  13  Vergil  apparently  says  that  he  is  engaged  in  translating 
Messalla's  bucolics,  and  he  even  gives  the  very  setting  of  Messalla's 
poems: 

molliter  hie  viridi  patulae  sub  tegmine  quercua 

Moeris  pastores  et  Meliboeus  erant. 

Now  when  Vergil  adopts  the  same  setting  in  the  opening  line  of 
his  first  Eclogue, 

Tityre  tu  patiUae  svb  tegmine  fagi, 

what  does  he  intend  the  reader  to  understand  unless  it  be  that  Mes- 
salla is  his  inspiration  and  guide  ?  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
the  ninth  Catalepton  was  written  before  the  first  Edogue,  just  as 
little  that  the  eclogues  contained  other  lines  taken  from  Messalla's 
verses,  and  that  this  is  implied  in  Vergil's  words:  "pauca  tua  in 
nostras  venerunt  carmina  chartas"  (1.  13). 
Line  40: 

Praemia  Messalis  maxima  Poplicolis. 

This  line  is  used  as  a  bridge  from  the  praise  of  Messalla's  poetry 
to  the  eulogy  of  his  deeds  of  war,  the  transition  being  carried  out  as 
follows:  The  heroine  of  your  verses  will  enjoy  a  more  lasting  fame 
than  Helen,  etc.,  and  Lucretiii,  on  whose  account  Rome  expelled 
the  kings  and  elected  consuls,  giving  great  reward  to  Messalla 
Publicola.  If  this  labored  passage  has  any  excuse  it  must  lie  in 
some  appropriate  comparison  between  the  ancient  Valerius  Publi- 
cola and  our  Valerius  Messalla.  If  the  eulogy  was  written  in  42 
there  was  propriety  in  such  a  comparison^  but  not  otherwise.  The 
poet  means  to  say  that  as  in  509  b.c.  Valerius  Publicola  aided  the 
first  Brutus  in  establishing  popular  rule,  so  now  young  Messalla 
was  aiding  the  last  Brutus  in  the  struggle  to  re-establish  it.  Critics 
have  stumbled  over  the  fact  that  Messalla  never  bore  the  cognomen 
Pvblicola,  but  in  42,  when  for  some  days  the  repubhc  seemed  pos- 
sible, it  must  have  occurred  to  many  that  Messalla  as  a  champion  of 


Vergil's  Apprenticeship  37 

the  repubhc  might  be  given  the  old  Valerian  cognomen  of  PubUcola, 
even  though  there  was  some  doubt  about  the  line  of  descent.  But 
after  MessaUa's  submission  and  return,  as  Muenzer,  De  gente  Valeria 
citing  Pliny  N,  H,  35.  8,^  has  shown,  MessaUa  made  every  effort  ti 
distmguish  between  his  ancestors  and  the  PubUcola-Laevinus 
branch.  In  fact,  there  is  a  reference  to  this  in  Horace,  who  in 
Sat,  i.  6  (before  33  B.C.),  while  praising  Messalla  in  Kne  42,  ridicules 
the  decadent  "Laevinum,  Valeri  genus,  unde  superbus  Tarquinius 
regno  pulsus  fugit"  (1.  12).  This  seems  to  me  to  be  definite  proof 
that  the  eulogy  wa«  written  in  the  year  42,  and  that  it  could  not 
have  been  written  after  the  collapse  of  the  repubhcan  party. 

Lines  43-50:  These  lines  speak  in  very  general  terms  of 
Messalla's  campaigns:  You  have  left  the  forum,  the  city,  and  your 
son  for  the  camp,  endured  cold  and  heat,  stormy  sea^,  and  the  onset 
of  battle.  These  generalities  are  quite  appropriate  for  the  Eastern 
campaigns  of  43^2,  the  details  of  which,  to  judge  from  Cicero's 
last  letters,*  were  none  too  well  known  at  Rome.  Vergil  furthermore 
would  hardly  care  to  stress  them,  since  they  chiefly  concerned 
attacks  upon  well-known  Greek  cities  within  the  Empire. 

Line  44:  "Tam  procul  hoc  gnato."  We  do  not  know  when 
this  son,  Messalinus,  was  born,  but  since  he  was  XVvir  in  or  before 
19  B.C.  (Tibullus  ii.  5)  it  is  generally  assumed  that  he  was  born  at 
least  as  early  as  42.  This  assumption  is  the  more  necessary  since 
Messalla  was  absent  from  Rome  for  some  years  after  42,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  account  for  a  son  of  the  years  indicated  by  Messalinus' 
career,  unless  his  father  was  married  before  his  departure  in  43. 
Lines  51-54: 

Nunc  celeres  Afros,  perjurae  milia  gentis 
Aurea  nunc  rapidi  flumina  adire  Tagi,  etc. 

These  mysterious  lines  have  puzzled  all  readers,  for  Messalla  is 
not  known  to  have  gone  to  Africa,  Spain,  or  Britain  at  any  time  of 
his  fife.  Birt  is  probably  correct  in  supposing  that  the  poet  is 
imagining  impending  campaigns  which  his  hero  may  be  caUed  upon 
to  conduct.  If  that  be  the  case  the  fines  can  hardly  belong  to  a 
later  period,  for  a  poet  could  then  refer  to  many  actual  achieve- 
ments  without  resorting  to  prospective  ones.    Since  we  can  date 

»  "Laevinorum  alienam  imaginem  genti  suae  inseri  prohibuit  " 
*  For  example,  Ad  Fam.  xii.  9. 


36 


Tbnnby  Frank 


Lines  7-40:    This  passage,  comprising  half  of  the  poem,  is 

devoted  to  praise  of  Messalla's  Greek  bucolics.     Since  Tibullus, 

who  frequently  lauds  Messalla  between  the  years  30  and  20  B.C., 

never  mentions  these  poems,  they  were  probably  exercises  of  the 

Athenian  days  which  the  author  was  glad  to  forget  in  the  time  of 

his  greatness.    If,  however,  the  eulogy  was  written  in  42,  these 

lines  give  us  an  important  landmark  in  Vergilian  biography.     In 

line  13  Vergil  apparently  says  that  he  is  engaged  in  translating 

Messalla's  bucolics,  and  he  even  gives  the  very  setting  of  Messalla's 

poems: 

molliter  hie  viridi  patvlae  sub  tegmine  quercus 

Moeris  pastores  et  Meliboeus  erant. 

Now  when  Vergil  adopts  the  same  setting  in  the  opening  line  of 

his  first  Eclogue^ 

Tityre  tu  patulae  sub  tegmine  fagij 

what  does  he  intend  the  reader  to  understand  unless  it  be  that  Mes- 
salla is  his  inspiration  and  guide?  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
the  ninth  Catalepton  was  written  before  the  first  EdoguCy  just  as 
little  that  the  eclogues  contained  other  lines  taken  from  Messalla's 
verses,  and  that  this  is  implied  in  VergiPs  words:  "pauca  tua  in 
nostras  venerunt  carmina  chartas"  (1.  13). 

Line  40: 

Praemia  Messalis  maxima  Poplicolis. 

This  line  is  used  as  a  bridge  from  the  praise  of  Messalla's  poetry 
to  the  eulogy  of  his  deeds  of  war,  the  transition  being  carried  out  as 
follows:  The  heroine  of  your  verses  will  enjoy  a  more  lasting  fame 
than  Helen,  etc.,  and  Lucretia,  on  whose  account  Rome  expelled 
the  kings  and  elected  consuls,  giving  great  reward  to  Messalla 
Publicola.  If  this  labored  passage  has  any  excuse  it  must  lie  in 
some  appropriate  comparison  between  the  ancient  Valerius  Publi- 
cola and  our  Valerius  Messalla.  If  the  eulogy  was  written  in  42 
there  was  propriety  in  such  a  comparison,  but  not  otherwise.  The 
poet  means  to  say  that  as  in  509  b.c.  Valerius  Publicola  aided  the 
first  Brutus  in  establishing  popular  rule,  so  now  young  Messalla 
was  aiding  the  last  Brutus  in  the  struggle  to  re-establish  it.  Critics 
have  stumbled  over  the  fact  that  Messalla  never  bore  the  cognomen 
Publicola,  but  in  42,  when  for  some  days  the  republic  seemed  pos- 
sible,  it  must  have  occurred  to  many  that  Messalla  as  a  champion  of 


Vergil's  Apprenticeship 


37 


the  republic  might  be  given  the  old  Valerian  cognomen  of  Publicola, 
even  though  there  was  some  doubt  about  the  line  of  descent.  But 
after  Messalla's  submission  and  return,  as  Muenzer,  De  gente  Valeria, 
citing  Pliny  AT.  H,  35.  8,^  has  shown,  Messalla  made  every  effort  to 
distinguish  between  his  ancestors  and  the  Publicola-Laevinus 
branch.  In  fact,  there  is  a  reference  to  this  in  Horace,  who  in 
Sat,  i.  6  (before  33  B.C.),  while  praising  Messalla  in  line  42,  ridicules 
the  decadent  '*Laevinum,  Valeri  genus,  unde  superbus  Tarquinius 
regno  pulsus  fugit"  (1.  12).  This  seems  to  me  to  be  definite  proof 
that  the  eulogy  was  written  in  the  year  42,  and  that  it  could  not 
have  been  written  after  the  collapse  of  the  republican  party. 

Lines  43-50:  These  lines  speak  in  very  general  terms  of 
Messalla's  campaigns:  You  have  left  the  forum,  the  city,  and  your 
son  for  the  camp,  endured  cold  and  heat,  stormy  seas,  and  the  onset 
of  battle.  These  generalities  are  quite  appropriate  for  the  Eastern 
campaigns  of  43-42,  the  details  of  which,  to  judge  from  Cicero's 
last  letters,*  were  none  too  well  known  at  Rome.  Vergil  furthermore 
would  hardly  care  to  stress  them,  since  they  chiefly  concerned 
attacks  upon  well-known  Greek  cities  within  the  Empire. 

Line  44:  "Tam  procul  hoc  gnato."  We  do  not  know  when 
this  son,  Messalinus,  was  born,  but  since  he  was  XVvir  in  or  before 
19  B.C.  (Tibullus  ii.  5)  it  is  generally  assumed  that  he  was  born  at 
least  as  early  as  42.  This  assumption  is  the  more  necessary  since 
Messalla  was  absent  from  Rome  for  some  years  after  42,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  account  for  a  son  of  the  years  indicated  by  Messalinus' 
career,  unless  his  father  was  married  before  his  departure  in  43. 

Lines  51-54: 

Nunc  celeres  Afros,  perjurae  milia  gentis 
Aurea  nunc  rapidi  flumina  adire  Tagi,  etc. 

These  mysterious  lines  have  puzzled  all  readers,  for  Messalla  is 
not  known  to  have  gone  to  Africa,  Spain,  or  Britain  at  any  time  of 
his  life.  Birt  is  probably  correct  in  supposing  that  the  poet  is 
imagining  impending  campaigns  which  his  hero  may  be  called  upon 
to  conduct.  If  that  be  the  case  the  lines  can  hardly  belong  to  a 
later  period,  for  a  poet  could  then  refer  to  many  actual  achieve- 
ments without  resorting  to  prospective  ones.    Since  we  can  date 

^  "Laevinonim  alienam  imaginem  genti  suae  inseri  prohibuit. " 
*  For  example,  Ad  Fam.  xii.  9. 


38 


Tenney  Frank 


the  poem  in  the  year  42  the  explanation  is  quite  simple.     Vergil, 
assuming  a  victory  at  Philippi,  foresaw  that  Africa  and  the  West 
were  still  to  be  conquered,  and  he  complimented  Messalla  by  accept- 
ing as  a  matter  of  course  that  he  would  be  chosen  for  the  task. 
Lines  59-63: 

Nos  ea  quae  tecum  finxenmt  carmina  divi, 
Cynthius  et  Musae,  Bacchus  et  Aglaie, 
Si  laude  aspirare,  humilis  si  adire  Cyrenas, 
Si  patrio  Graios  carmine  adire  sales 
Possumus,  optatis  plus  jam  procedimus  ipsis. 

The  text  and  punctuation  in  these  Unes  are  doubtful,  but  if  I  under- 
stand them  rightly  the  poet  means  to  say  that  he  will  be  quite 
satisfied  if  he  can  bring  some  honor  to  Messalla's  poetry,  and  if  he 
can  himself  attain  the  modest  success  of  a  Callimachus  (adire  Cyre- 
nas), The  first  wish  seems  to  refer  to  the  translations  of  the  bucol- 
ics mentioned  above,  and  the  phrase  adire  Cyrenas  is  evidently  a 
reference  to  another  poem  also  intended  for  Messalla,  the  CiriSy 
which  indeed  is  the  best  illustration  in  Latin  of  some  of  the  traits  of 
the  CalUmachian  epyllion.  I  shall  later  attempt  to  date  the  Ciria  in 
45-43.  These  lines  accordingly  prove  like  all  the  rest  to  fit  into  the 
cu-cumstances  of  the  year  42;  they  have  little  meaning  if  assigned 
to  the  period  of  Vergil's  great  work. 

This  review  seems  to  show  that  the  ninth  Catalepton  was  written 
to  Messalla  after  the  report  of  his  victory  at  Philippi  had  reached 
Rome,  but  before  the  news  of  the  second  battle  had  arrived.  That 
the  author  was  Vergil  can  in  the  circumstances  hardly  be  doubted. 
The  trifling  stylistic  objections  raised  by  Buecheler  (Rhein.  Mus,, 
38,  515)  have  been  adequately  answered  by  VoUmer,  who  rightly 
insists  that  the  ancient  and  textual  testimony  in  favor  of  Vergil  is 
too  strong  to  be  questioned  except  on  the  best  of  grounds.  We 
have  seen  that  by  dating  the  poem  in  the  year  42  B.C.  this  testimony 
has  the  support  of  the  contents  and  historical  setting  as  well.  Why 
the  poem  was  not  pubUshed  by  Vergil  We  can  now  understand. 
There  was  no  triumph,  and  though  Vergil  and  Messalla  continued 
to  be  friends  they  probably  avoided  the  subject  of  the  civil  war 
and  its  shattered  hopes  for  the  best  of  reasons.  And  so  the  paean 
was  left  unsung. 

Johns  Hopkins  University 


